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RE: Day 595: 5 Minute Freewrite: Friday - Prompt: trot
Well done! This is so polished and packed with so much meaning, I'd never look at it and think "5-miinute freewrite." Your prose is lyrical and memorable, especially those closing lines. I had to re-read to make sure Trot came home from the war too. Papa rode off to the war on him in 1861, and returned, a much older and sadder man, in 1865. "Big Hoss did good, that day." I trust he did not die that day. Love the photo, by the way!
Well, I am a published author, and a Civil War student. Trot is based partially on one of the war's most famous horses: Traveller, General Lee's very spirited gray horse. Partially, the story borrows from one of the war's saddest battles: the Battle of the Wilderness, in which a fire on Saunders Field burned up all the wounded men who could not be rescued... but you figure a brave man in either cavalry, with his own fast, brave horse, might have gotten involved to save who he could. I have MUCH longer manuscripts of historical fiction, presently being developed for publication, around this period in history, so I just thought about a little story that would fit in for someone to be telling in a quiet chapter, and THIS happened, in a little over five minutes -- just under six. I also did about ten minutes of editing.
Just so you know: yes, Trot lives to be "good ol' Trot," and we may safely imagine Papa and him held in honor by their community and all those whose lives they saved, into a golden old age, although of course, only the children know his name is REALLY Trot, not Big Hoss, his "hero" name...
I'm happy to hear that Trot did indeed survive the battle. Those Civil War stories are endless and heartbreaking. The eagle who scouted out the enemy, but died alone in a cage in a government building, in a fire, after the war... the little details can be the most heart wrenching. A "double" (replica, of sorts) of that eagle is on display in a museum in Madison, Wisconsin, and it breaks my heart to think of that great eagle spending his final years in a cage....war is terrible, and people can be terrible, but I applaud you for finding the redemptive side of it.
My heart hurts over that eagle... he became a living relic, and then they forgot the relic, and then he died needlessly ... animals and soldiers alike have suffered that fate... but there IS a redemptive side, and that is what I highlight!